I Pledge Intolerance to Bigotry

Things changed profoundly in this country on November 8. Mostly for the worse. In so far as things changing for the better, as far as the better half waking up and smelling the shit–it was all too little and too late.

The media did too little to stand up to half the voting public (minus two million or so), which ultimately turned out to be okay with a presidential candidate who displayed his personal racism, xenophobia, misogyny, islamophobia, who bullied any minority you can think of and then some, and who gleefully encouraged these undemocratic and just plain deplorable behaviors in his followers. Even now the media is mostly pussy-footing around the fact that Trump and his voters are in fact deplorable. Article upon article discusses “how to talk about racism so racists will listen” (spoiler alert: whatever you do, you’re not supposed to mention the word racism), how the Trump voters were mainly concerned with the economy, etc, etc.

Bullshit!

It’s not that they were willing to overlook Trump’s racism, xenophobia, misogyny and Islamophobia because he seemed the right choice for the economy. No, they overlooked the fact that everything he has ever done has been to enrich himself, that he often did that at the expense of those beneath him in his pecking-order world, that he bragged about paying as little in taxes as possible, that he declared bankruptcy several times, always at the expense of others and no pain to himself, that even during his campaign he put himself and his business first whenever he had the chance, that he was born with a silver spoon in his mouth and that he looked down from his golden elevator at the “poorly educated”.

They overlooked all that because he said the things they were thinking: the racist, misogynistic, Islamophobic, xenophobic thoughts that they were thinking. And now that Trump will be the next president, these folks feel that they, too, can finally say what they have been thinking all this time. Hell, the ultra-right white supremacists are positively orgasmic at the thought of having Steve Bannon as Trump’s brain in the White House–their views will now be mainstream.

And the proof is here for all to see: Trump voters do not spray swastikas on walls because of the economy, they don’t scream at women wearing hijabs because they feel unheard. The daughter of good friends of mine is in college right now. She’s Korean-American, barely five feet tall and not even ninety pounds. The other day she was late to class, so there was hardly anyone in the halls. Two big fat white guys decided it was funny to block the doors so she couldn’t get in. Six doors in a row, and every time she went to the next door, they moved, too, laughing their heads off. But she moved all the way to the door at the far end, with those idiots following her and blocking her, and because she’s smaller and faster and a hell of a lot smarter, she then ran to the door on the other end and got in and continued to her class. These “students” were not blocking her way because they were economically disenfranchised. They did this because they were racist, misogynistic assholes. We’ve all heard about or personally experienced this kind of bullying and worse since the election.

This is not okay! This is not normal! This is not understandable! Predictable, yes, explainable, yes, but definitely not okay! Not to me, anyway. This is some seriously scary stuff. I’m not afraid for myself that much–I’m afraid for all my black, brown, LGBTQ, disabled, foreign and female friends, family and acquaintances. And for me, the most effective way not to be afraid is to be angry. I won’t tolerate these folks. I am not ready to be part of the “healing” and the “coming together” that some are promoting. I don’t want to come together with racists. I don’t even want to visualize any healing with misogynists. I’m not going to be all kumbaya with bullies and bigots. I distance myself from them–they are not welcome in my house. I will distance myself from them unless they identify themselves by their behavior–in that case I will be all over them, literally.

I pledge to wear a safety pin–or some more effective visual differentiation if it comes along–as long as this deplorable, developmentally stunted, Constitution-trampling, pussy-grabbing goldfish sits in the White House. I will wear it not so much as a sign of solidarity with all the people Trump, his handlers and his followers hate, which should be a given, but as a warning to anyone who is thinking of bullying someone in my presence. I may not be armed and I may not know karate, because I’m a pacifist after all. But I do weigh two hundred pounds (for now)–I can trip them up and sit on them until the police arrive. And if the police are the ones doing the bullying, I will use my white privilege to get in their faces as well. (They might arrest me and put me in jail, but since I’m a middle-aged white woman with a lot of built-in padding, I’ll probably live to blog about it.)

I’m not saying and doing this because I want to be woke, or because I view all minorities or women as victims, or because I feel guilty for my white privilege–I’m saying and doing this because I’m PISSED OFF!

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So what are you doing to prevent this new order from becoming the new normal? Let me know in a comment. And if you’re a Trump voter and you don’t agree with me, you can comment, too, as long as you use complete sentences and your arguments are based on facts.

You know, I learned about the safety pin from R, who learned about it on Facebook, and I’m glad you wear yours, but I haven’t come across a single other person who wears it. Maybe there has to be something else, but until then, I’m keeping it on. Yesterday I was in the car, far from home, when I realized I forgot the pin, so I went to a Walgreens to get a bunch to keep in the car.

What Folks Have Been Reading

Archives: The Whole Shebang

Archives: The Whole Shebang

WHAT I HAVE BEEN READING

The Indigenous nations of North America practiced slavery for various reasons, but once the Europeans came, it became commodified in a way that looked a lot more like the human trafficking we know today. The damage it did to the entire continent is mind-boggling.

In the late 60s Richard Proenneke built his own cabin in the Alaskan wilderness with only a few simple tools. He spent most of the rest of his life there. Sam Keith fleshed out Proenneke's diary of his first 16 months, when he was making his home by a lake. I love these kinds of books!

An old Oji-Cree healer and her nephew canoe down a river in Canada, away from the world of white people. They both have to come to terms with their past. The woman has lost most of her tribe and the young man is traumatized from his recent experience in the Belgian trenches of World War One. My second book by Boyden. Can't say enough about him.

An incredibly comprehensive history of everything related to slavery in the Southern United States, from the beginning of the colonies to the end of the Civil War. Over 700 pages and I took over 30 pages of notes. I will be sharing over many posts to come!

Hamid's debut novel. I love this author. A young man in Lahore, Pakistan, is the victim of love, drugs, obsession, the class system and his complete lack of self-awareness.

A golem, created in Poland and brought to life on a ship to America, and a jinni who was trapped in a flask a thousand years ago and released in New York -- the most unusual immigrants you'll ever meet.

The only part of her life a Korean woman can control is her body, so she withdraws into it. Harrowing.

Autobiography lightly disguised as a novel about the son of Southern migrants growing up on the streets of Harlem, New York City, in the 1940s and 50s. Written like you're hearing the whole story in a bar. Quite a feat.

The story of a man struggling to make a living in Morocco. No plot, no clearly defined characters, but fascinating in its authenticity.

Four generations of black women in Louisiana, from a kitchen slave in the 1830s to a 'free' woman during the Jim Crow 1930s. What they had to do to survive, to keep what they could of their family together. Powerful.

Pakistani man tells an American about his experience as a college student and employee of an assessment firm in America years ago. Smart, nuanced and pretty darn honest considering the unreliable narrator.

Wow! The answer to the inane platitudes about how all parents love their children and how children should always respect their parents. The protagonist must come to terms with his deeply flawed immigrant parents in order to change himself.

Seven short stories about life during the Kim Il-sung regime, by a writer who still lives and works in North Korea, were smuggled out of the country and translated. Mind-boggling stuff.

A 15-year-old autistic narrator wants to know who killed a neighbor's dog, and ends up much further out of his comfort zone than he planned. Wonderful read!

In politics, education, religion, agriculture, business--it turns out that dumbing down has been here from the start.

Fifty years of Istanbul seen through the eyes of a street vendor who migrates to the city as a young boy. It's also a window into the complicated dance between men and women in Turkey.

Hey, don't laugh, at least I'm trying.

A Norwegian immigrant is cooped up with six other people on a tiny island off the coast of Maine all winter in 1873. A woman in the present researching the Norwegian immigrant is cooped up with three other people on a tiny sailboat. What could possibly go wrong?

A man stuck between two worlds in more ways than one. Fascinating!

Historical novel about early contacts between first nations and the French in Canada. Beautifully written story that doesn't pull any punches. I bought his other two novels right away.

Beautifully written. By my children's favorite English and Creative Writing teacher! It's got rave reviews and we're all very proud of her.

"What a repugnant spectacle our country has become! Falsehood, cruelty and madness everywhere, and brute force in the wings waiting to finish us off. "

Suki Kim is a Korean-American journalist. She poses as an evangelical Christian posing as an English teacher at a school for the sons of North Korea's elite. Her experience and the information she manages to get via writing assignments are incredible. Definitely a lot more eye-opening that any CNN special.

This. Explains. Everything!!!

Why has Islam not undergone a reformation like Christianity? Why is it so easy for Islamic extremist groups like IS to recruit young muslims? What would it take for Islam in fundamentalist Islamic countries to enter modernity? Does the West have a role to play?

Amazing! A man wanders endlessly through a dreamscape, becoming other people, himself in the past, everything is fluid. Kafkaesque disconnect between people and their different needs.

A multi-layered novel about the history of Libya. A fast read, but one you can repeat and find something new each time.

Twelve Americans go missing in Burma/Myanmar during a tour. Touching and hilarious, but mostly hilarious.

The quote on the front mentions that these stories are exhilerating. I couldn't disagree more. They are almost unbearably painful to read, and yet I couldn't put them down. Very well done, apart from the third story, which is written in the second tense. Please let me know if you know of ONE story that works in second tense.